At Masses across Rome and socioeconomic lines, Catholics prayed the next pope focuses on poverty and peace days before the conclave that will elect Pope Francis’ successor.

A change in popes is a complicated process, with centuries-old rituals involving the transition in leadership for both the ...

Whether in the squat 1980s concrete church of San Paolo della Croce, next to a notorious public housing project, or facing millennium-old golden mosaics in Santa Maria in Trastevere, Catholics ...